Shimura Tae
| divwidth= | floatalign= | floatclear= }} Shimura Tae (志村 妙 Shimura Tae ), or just Otae (お妙) (the "お" (O) is an honorific used to refer to women), is the older sister of Shimura Shinpachi. While the Shinsengumi have almost accepted her as the de facto lady boss, or rather the consort of their boss Kondou Isao, by calling her 姐さん ne-e-san. She works at 'Snack Smile' スナック「すまいる」 as a cabaret hostess to keep the family doujo Koudoukan 恒道館 going (though more often than not, she behaves more like a bouncer). She also became a member of the 4 Devas of Kabuki District after Otose's, Doromizu Jirochou's and Saigou Tokumori's retirement and Kujaku Hime Kada's seizure. As an official Deva, Tae is known as the "Kabukichō﻿ no Joō" (Translated: The Kabuki District's Queen). It is hinted that Tae is meant to be the replacement for Kujaku Hime Kada, as her way of managing the Kabuki District is not all that different from the Peacock Princess Kada's. Just like Kada, Tae uses devious methods to harm Kurogoma Katsuo, who does not approve of Tae being one of the four Devas. Background Shimura Tae grew up with her brother Shimura Shinpachi and his father in their family dojou Koudoukan. Their father died when they were still young, leaving them to take care of the dojou, and also to be left in debt. Tae still wants to revive her father's dojo, as she believes that a child does not need a reason to protect what its parents once loved. To revive the dojo, Tae works in a Hostess Club as a Cabaret Hostess. Though she sometimes even physically abuses rude customers, she became the "main attraction" of the Hostess Club she works at. The customer Tae abuses the most is Kondo Isao. He fell in love with Tae when he was served by her in the Hostess Club and started stalking her since then. Tae strongly disapproves of his stalking activities and constantly beats him up, as he even hides in her house and follows her wherever she goes while trying to make her go out with him. Though Tae is annoyed by that, by now, Isao is an important part of her life, as he often risks his own life to protect Tae and prevent her from suffering. When Otae was younger, she beat up the bullies who made fun of Yagyuu Kyuubei. From that moment on, Otae and Kyuubei were close childhood friends. Kyuubei greatly admired Tae because she was strong and carried even the heaviest burdens with a smile on her face. When Kyuubei saved Tae from her debt-collector's abuse and lost her eye in the process, Tae promised Kyuubei to marry her and become her new left eye. Years later, Kyuubei reappeared to take Tae with her and marry her. Though Tae didn't love Kyuubei, she agreed to stick to her promise because she was still feeling guilty. However, Tae was then saved by the Yorozuya and the Shinsengumi, as they didn't wish to see Tae suffering. Despite this incident, Tae and Kyuubei are still close friends. Kyuubei does her best to protect Tae, although she is still in love with her. Appearance She is a beautiful young woman with brown hair tied back in a ponytail and brown eyes. She wears a pink yukata with red flowers on it. She once admitted in her own words that she is 'flat chested'.Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. VIZ media, Vol. 1, Lesson 1, p. 41. She can also be very violent, and her weapon of choice seems to be her fists and a naginata. She usually smiles. Tae.jpg|Tae Standard Otae as a stand.png|Otae as a stand Otae in winter wear.png|Otae in winter garbs Otae old.png|Otae old Robert De Flato.png|Otae in a swimsuit Young tae.png|Tae in her childhood with Kyuubei Tanned otae.jpg|Tanned Otae Otae Real Smile.jpg|Otae Real Smile Personality She is very egotistical about her own good qualities, but very insecure about her bad qualities too. Though outwardly appearing sweet and good-natured, in reality she has a quick temper and a violent disposition, in particular towards 'gorilla-like stalkers'. Since their mother died in a young age, Tae always took care of Shinpachi and protected him. She is really brave and she always care about other people than herself- very similar to Gintoki. She always tries to look strong and happy; so always smiles even if she feels sad or disappointed. Her speech manners are totally unlady-like, peppered with vulgar descriptions, especially of human genitalia, frequently prompting Shinpachi to scold her saying that 'girls should not speak like that'. She is also very ruff as she is seen scolding her stalker, Gin and even her own brother in a very harsh manner. She generally acts sweet and kind, but she gets angry so easily and she has a very violent personality. (She can defined as a mild yangire) She loves the expensive brand of ice cream called Bargain Dash (破亜限堕取（バーゲンダッシュ)), a parody of the Häagen-Dazs ice cream in real world, and her most famous cuisine specialty is the 卵焼き tamago yaki aka fried egg, but labelled as 'Dark Matter' or even 'Pitiful egg' by Gintoki and others. This dish has caused the following side effects when eaten: # caused Shinpachi's eyesight to deteriorate over long periods of consumption, thereby needing eye glasses # aggravated Gintoki's amnesia Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. VIZ media, Vol. 7, Lesson 50, p. 23. # made Kondou Isao lose his memory Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. VIZ media, Vol. 7, Lesson 50, p. 23. # caused Yagyuu Binboksai to have diarrhea Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. VIZ media, Vol. 14, Lesson 117, p. 13. When not eaten, it can be used as a ballistic missile, as seen when they went up against the Tagosaku-possessed Oiwa which she said "burned" in the Onsen Chapter. In fact, literally everything Shimura Tae touches will come out burnt, even sushi (which does not require fire to make). Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. Shueisha, Vol. 22, Lesson 187, p. 9. Strangely enough, the konjac jelly she made for her younger brother in Episode 126 (of the Pen-pal Chapter) came out properly as konjac jelly. However, this can not be considered canon as she was not seen actually making it in the manga, and the scene with her talking to Kagura afterwards was a filler. She was revealed to be a die-hard fan of B'z band as she sang the chorus of Taiyoh no Komachi Angel while facing a sunset, thinking she was all alone, before Shinpachi, Hasegawa and Gintoki came along.Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. VIZ media, Vol. 20, Lesson 175, p. 9. She has a constant fear of monsters, as seen during the Test of Courage in Episode 68 when she and Oryou entered the Test booth. This made her so scared it caused her to go berserk destroying the skeleton model, making Oryou vomit blood (due to her German Suplex Hold) and smacking up Ochi-san in the process. Strength & Abilities She inherited a dojo together with his younger brother Shimura Shinpachi called Koudoukan (恒道館), specialising in the Tendoumushin sword-fighting style (天堂無心流 - Tendou Mushin Ryuu). She specialises in using Naginata and she can even use only one hand swinging. Tae used to beat up bullies who picked on her brother Shimura Shinpachi at a young age and was already feared by everyone back then. When unarmored, Tae uses her fists to fight her opponents and fights surprisingly well even without her Naginata. She was even able to knock Otohime's soldiers out with only her fists. This is matched equally by her impressive physical strength in walloping other people though she never faced any major characters in combat. She was able to give Kondou Isao a concussion using just a pico-pico hammer (an inflated squeaky toy hammer) even though he was already wearing a safety helmet. Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. VIZ media, Vol. 3, Lesson 17, p. 13. She has also shown to be able to punch holes in a wall without any effort. Other than Kondou Isao, Sakata Gintoki is frequently on the receiving end of her rough treatment. List of Victims Thus far, Katsura Kotarou, Kyuubei, Tsukuyo and Kagura seems to be the only main characters acquainted with Otae not to have been roughed up by her. Her list of 'victims' include the following characters: Relationships Family *'Shimura Shinpachi': Tae's younger brother. She can be over protective of him. Yagyuu Kyuubei stated that Tae always puts on her fake smile despite suffering because she doesn't want Shinpachi to worry about her or anything else. She always carries the burdens by herself to prevent Shinpachi from suffering. However, despite that, Shinpachi is often on the receiving end of her rough treatment. *'Shimura Ken': Tae's father, she trying her best to save his Dojo. Friends & Allies *'Kagura': Kagura sees Tae as her sister and she addresses her in the very respectful term of 姐御 ane-go aka 'elder sister'. Otae acts like an older sister to her, like to Shinpachi. *'Oryou': Oryou is Tae's co-worker and friend from Snack Smile and the two are frequently seen together at work. She helped Tae in the competition with Ane and was also with her in the Test of Courage/Horror House (nearly getting strangled to death by the frightened Tae in the process) Love InterestEpisode 81 *'Yagyuu Kyuubei': Years later, Otae became Kyuubei's fiancee at of obligation to what happened to her eye. Although Shinpachi and the rest stopped her from going through with the marriage, she still remains in friendly ties with Kyuubei afterwards.Sorachi Hideaki. Gintama. VIZ media, Vol. 15, Lesson 123, p. 4. *'Sakata Gintoki': People often think they are a couple. When she met Gin she felt mad by trying make him commit seppuku, as he had caused her brother to get fired. When he saved her, she started admiring his soul and skill as a samurai which she felt was a great example for her brother. It is also hinted that Gin makes her smile everyday she see him around Shinpachi and Kagura from the day she was saved. When he loses his memory, she even seems romantically attracted to him. He is the only person she trust to discuss her brother's problems and to be honest the most to. It is hinted that she consider Gintoki along with Shinpachi and Kagura as her family. Tae really trusts him and Gintoki really cares about her. Also, she always take care of him when he is sick or wounded. *'Obi Hajime': He was the former chief coach of the Koudoukan. He was like an older brother to Shinpachi and Otae. He went missing before Shinpachi met Gintoki travelling around the Galaxy. Noted to be Otae's first love by Shinpachi, Obi is one of the biggest influence in her life as he taught her to smile as well as being her tutor when she was younger. Although Tae carried almost every burden with a fake smile on her face, she couldn't help but cry when Obi died. *'Kondou Isao': Kondou is obsessively in love with Tae. He always stalks her, and he always get beaten by her really violently. He is also very possessive about Tae and jelaous Gintoki and Kyuubei for being close to her. Otae is very disturbed of his harassment and treats him really bad. But although Otae hates him for being a pervert stalker, when Kondou was forced to marry a Gorilla Princess, she ruined the ceremony to save him. Enemies *'Eromes': Tae hates her for having a cat appearance and for pushing Shinpachi's love illusions to far to be true. When Eromes stole money from Shinpachi, Tae and Kagura finally decided to crush her. *'Otohime': Tae considered Otohime's heart "laughably wretched" and is convinced that no matter how much effort she will put into being beautiful, she will remain ugly. Otohime ordered her subordinates to kill her for being more beautiful than her and insulting her, which has caused Tae to attack her and her subordinates. When Otohime finally realized that Tae's words were true and had a change of heart, Tae, Yagyuu Kyuubei, Hasegawa Taizou and the Yorozuya saved her from being crushed when her palace collapsed. *'Ane': As they are both the most profit-making Cabaret Hostesses, Tae and Ane are competitors. When one of them had to be fired, Tae ruthlessly tricked Ane to get rid of her, despite knowing that Ane seriously needed the money. Neither of them was fired, though. In Episode 264 it was stated that Tae is the main attraction of the Hostess Club she works at, meaning that Tae is in fact the best Cabaret Hostess, though Ane is more popular among Matsudaira Katakuriko, who always spends a lot of money while visiting the Hostess Club. Story She tries to revive her family dojo that her and Shinpachi's father left to them after his death by doing whatever it takes such as working at a Hostess Club. (Though, she was forced to spend their money first in fortifying their house to keep off annoying gorilla like stalkers i.e. Kondou) Memory Loss Arc Infant Strife Arc Otae got angry and battled Sarutobi Ayame after being accused of having child together with Sakata Gintoki. Train Samurai Arc Benizakura Arc Tae complied with Shimura Shinpachi's request and took care of the severely injured Sakata Gintoki. While knowing about Sakata Gintoki's plan to get rid of her in order to help Murata Tetsuko, Tae pretended to buy Sakata Gintoki a Jump-magazine. Instead she brought him his clothes and her umbrella in order to give him the opportunity to help Murata Tetsuko. Yagyu Arc Otae was taken away by Kyubei to become her 'wife'. Shinpachi and co tried to save her, as well as Shinsengumi. Owee Arc Ryugujo Arc Ghost Ryokan Arc Correspondence Arc Character Poll Arc Being unhappy with her character poll ranking, Otae teamed up with Sarutobi, Kyubei, Kagura and Tsukuyo to get the top ranking and formed the Diamond Perfume to go against the higher ranked characters. During this Arc, Tae managed to sweep the Shinsengumi's Commander Kondo Isao out of the way and even managed to "absorb" the Vice-Commander Hijikata Toushirou for a short amount of time. The Diamond Perfume (including Tae herself), the Shinsengumi and Katsura Kotarou were defeated by Sadaharu and Elizabeth. Kabukicho Stray Cat Arc Santa Arc Kabukicho Four Devas Arc Otae and her co-cabaret girls arrived to backup the fight with the Yorozuya against the Saigou Family & Dobunezumi group Timeskip Arc Two years later, Otae became'' 'Kondou Isao '"wife", for paying up her up on rebuilding her father's dojo. She later appears to revealed that she was cheating with kondou and "had a kid" with hijikata. It was later that she having a kid with hijikata and being kondou's wife was proven to be fake, by being a victim of a virus. Scandal Arc Vacation Arc Love Choriss Arc Host Club Arc Kintama Arc Beam Sword Style Arc Tae wished for Obi Hajime to be Shimura Shinpachi's brother for just a little longer and begged Sakata Gintoki to wait before he kills Obi Hajime. Later on, Tae, Shimura Shinpachi and Kagura teamed up to support Gintoki in his fight against Obi Hajime. Tae was the witness of Shimura Shinpachi's and Obi Hajime's final fight. After Obi Hajime's death, Tae and her brother went on vacation to come to terms with Obi Hajime's death. After they returned, Tae visited Obi Hajime's grave to assure him that she and her brother are doing fine. '''Gintama The Final Chapter : Be Forever Yoruzuya In the second Gintama movie, Tae is shown after five years. Her hair color changed from brown to white due to an uncurable and deadly illness called "the White Plague". Tae refused to die before she didn't meet Sakata Gintoki one more time to say good bye. Sarutobi Ayame stated that not just Tae's physical condition, but also her will was weakened because of this illness, as Tae never took abuse from anyone before she was infected by the White Plague, but did nothing when she was abused by Ayame after being infected by it. Trivia *She was the only person during the Kintama arc who didn't feel hate toward Gin even when she believed the lie that he hurt Tama and she was the first person to start remembering Gintoki. *Gintoki is the main guy Otae forces to eat her cooking compared to everyone else. *Gin is the first person Otae bow to during lesson 405. *The kanji character for her name which is 妙 means 'strange'. *Tae was born on Halloween. This might be an allusion to her scary demeanor. Quotes * (To Shinpachi) "Does a child need a reason to protect what our parents loved?" * (To Shinpachi) "Shin-chan it's just like you said, nothing good will come by protecting this dojo, you only feel pain. But throwing it away is also painful, things that you can't take back are painful to keep or throw away. Since both ways are painful, I rather suffer protecting it" * (To Shinpachi) "When a friend is crying, you should cry together. If your friend is worried about something, you should hold your head and worry together. when a friend takes a dump, then you should take a dump as well. If you're a friend then you can share any kind of pain with them." * (To Shinpachi) "But Shin-Chan, if there's a time where your friend takes the wrong road, at that time, even if it ruins your friendship you should stop him. THAT'S A TRUE SAMURAI FRIENDSHIP!" * (To Tomu) "Do you think your fake believe will work on us? We believe in something more certain, and that's friendship!" * (To Sakata Gintoki) "If 'sorry' was enough, we wouldn't have seppuku." * (To Hijikata Toushirou) "So you intend to eliminate the woman who is the source of your boss's scandalous behaviour? I would expect no less from the demon vice-commander. You're used to doing dirty work after all. However, there's no point in worrying about the Shinsengumi at this point, since your Shinsengumi and everything else... will be absorbed by us!" * (To Otohime) "I'll say this straight from my heart. You're ugly. Your heart is truly laughably wretched." * (To Otohime) "You're not the only one...who ages with time. No matter how beautiful a person may be, they will still age and die. But even so, even if appearances change, don't you believe that we have in us things that don't change? Even as our bodies crumble, even as the months and years take their toll...Don't you believe that we all have something that time can't spoil? Even if you cover us with winrkles, we won't lose to you. That's because we know what beauty truly is." * (To Dobunezumi gang) "It's not very nice of you to decide the fate of the Kabuki District on your own. This town doesn't belong to any of you. It belongs to us cabaret girls! The Jirocho gang and the Okama gang can bring it on. We'll show you how terrifying the Kabuki District truly is!" * (To Dobunezumi gang) "Who are you calling a regular cabaret girl? Get on your knees. I am the Queen of the Kabuki District!" References Category:Female Characters Category:Human Category:Characters Category:Sadistic Type